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3. HUGE CONFISCATION SHOCK FOR WADI FUQEEN FARMERS
(This particular violation highlighted as the British Shalom-Salaam Trust has donated to summer camps for the children of Wadi Fuqeen and Deheisheh refugee camp, and to the kindergarten in Wadi Fuqeen)
New Israeli military orders target land in Al-Jabaa and Wadi Fuqeen villages

http://www.wadifuqeenfriends.com/index.php?news&nid=4

Many Palestinian farmers from Al-Jabaa and Wadi Fuqeen villages had their land declared state land on 21 January 2008. However, they only found out about this by pure chance.
The Palestinian farmers from the two villages, both situated southwest of Bethlehem, were cultivating their lands when they came across several Israeli military orders tossed on the dirt in their fields.
It turned out that the orders had been issued by the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Land Property in the Israeli Army.
They were in fact warning notices for the Palestinian farmers to evacuate their lands and to remove and dismantle all that exists in those areas.
The warning notices state that this includes, but is not limited to, trees and infrastructure installations. Indeed, the notices can apply to anything on the land.
The land is being confiscated under the pretext that the area is ‘State Land’.
One local farmer, Maher Taha Mustapha Manasra, from Wadi Fuqeen, found an Israeli military order (holding number 51/05/B) issued by the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Land Property in the Israeli Army. It warned him to evacuate his land under the pretext that it is ‘State Land’.
Mr Manasra said that his 25.5 dunums piece of land is cultivated with hundreds of Olive and Almonds trees. In addition, he said he can prove his ownership of the land – he has a Turkish and British ‘Tabo’ in addition to a Palestinian-issued title deed.
Many, many other farmers have been similarly affected.
In nearby Al-Jabaa village, the local farmers found five Israeli military orders notifying them to evacuate more than 71 dunums of lands under the aforementioned pretext.
The owners of these lands also indicated that they had certificates and registration documents (Turkish and British ‘Tabo’) which prove their ownership of their lands.To read about and see more about this latest shock for the villagers and their Palestinian neighbours - and to understand the shocking scale of the latest confiscations in this area of the West Bank. This links to the site of the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem. This body monitors the scale of the Israeli colonisation.

4. European Parliament votes to lift blockade on Gaza
NEWS RELEASE From the office of Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, 21 February 2008

The European Parliament today voted in favour of an all-party resolution calling on the Israeli Government to lift restrictions on movement across the Israel-Gaza border.

Commenting on the result, Jean Lambert MEP, who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Israel and Gaza, said:
“I am pleased that parliament has taken such as strong stance on this issue. As a result of the blockade the people of Gaza are facing a humanitarian crisis.
“There are insufficient drugs available in hospitals to provide basic care and in some areas food assistance only fulfils about two-thirds of daily requirements. The fishing industry, which employed about 10,000 people, is under severe stress as boats cannot stray far from the coast.
“An ecological disaster could also be imminent as the Beit Lahia sewage plant in Gaza is failing, but essential maintenance supplies cannot be obtained. Businesses cannot survive and the unemployed are having to find work with the smugglers and extremists.
“While the rocket attacks on Israel continue, the few armed militants involved threaten the peace and the future of the many, both Israeli and Palestinian. Hamas must stop the perpetrators and Israel must recognise that the current siege will not aid long-term security.”

5. How to be an Israeli journalist by Yonatan Mendel
A year ago I applied for the job of Occupied Territories correspondent at Ma’ariv, an Israeli newspaper. I speak Arabic and have taught in Palestinian schools and taken part in many joint Jewish-Palestinian projects. At my interview the boss asked how I could possibly be objective. I had spent too much time with Palestinians; I was bound to be biased in their favour. I didn’t get the job. My next interview was with Walla, Israel’s most popular website. This time I did get the job and I became Walla’s Middle East correspondent. I soon understood what Tamar Liebes, the director of the Smart Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University, meant when she said: ‘Journalists and publishers see themselves as actors within the Zionist movement, not as critical outsiders.’

Judith Norman of Jewish Voice for Peace describes Abinmah’s article in this way: “[A]activist and author Ali Abunimah discusses the potential of Palestinian non-violent resistance. The mass action that took place when people poured out of Gaza succeeded brilliantly in both focusing world attention on the crisis and embarrassing Israel and Egypt, the countries responsible for maintaining the blockade. Like so many Palestinians and Palestinian groups, Abunimah calls for repeated mass action of this sort. The primary enemy of the tactic of non-violent resistance is the Israeli government itself, which prefers to maintain before the public eye the image of the Palestinian terrorist, since this provides the appropriate pretext for its belligerent, expansionist agenda. The other great enemy is Hamas itself, which frequently seems all too willing to provide Israel with the image it wants. As the Israeli government works to thwart any impulses in Hamas towards political moderation, Abunimah encourages Palestinians to resist any such provocation.’
Full article at

7.How the EU helps Israel strangle Gaza
Those who have long wondered how Gaza remained isolated when it had a border crossing to the south with Egypt will be indebted to David Morrison’s excellent analysis. “The answer is that, thanks to the good offices of the EU, which has a role in managing the Rafah crossing under the Agreement, Israel has always had a veto on the opening of the crossing. As we will see, in practice, whenever Israel doesn’t want the crossing open, the EU doesn’t open it.” This short answer is backed up with a detailed analysis of Agreement on Movement and Access, signed more than two years ago, on 15 November 2005, by Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and the fact that under the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing Point (APRC), a Third Party must have personnel present at the Rafah crossing before it is allowed to open. The Third Party is the EU – and the EU has always refused to man the crossing when Israel didn’t want the crossing open.

Final para:
Perfectly ordinary people, as the American psychologist said of the Abu Ghraib abusers, are capable of behaving like monsters when they receive a message from the top that it is permissible to abuse, beat, choke, burn, make people miserable and generally do anything that man’s evil genius is capable of inventing to others who are under their control. Something bad is happening to us, they are saying in the Kfir Brigade. That ‘something’ is the occupation.

3. HUGE CONFISCATION SHOCK FOR WADI FUQEEN FARMERS
(This particular violation highlighted as the British Shalom-Salaam Trust has donated to summer camps for the children of Wadi Fuqeen and Deheisheh refugee camp, and to the kindergarten in Wadi Fuqeen)
New Israeli military orders target land in Al-Jabaa and Wadi Fuqeen villages

http://www.wadifuqeenfriends.com/index.php?news&nid=4

Many Palestinian farmers from Al-Jabaa and Wadi Fuqeen villages had their land declared state land on 21 January 2008. However, they only found out about this by pure chance.
The Palestinian farmers from the two villages, both situated southwest of Bethlehem, were cultivating their lands when they came across several Israeli military orders tossed on the dirt in their fields.
It turned out that the orders had been issued by the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Land Property in the Israeli Army.
They were in fact warning notices for the Palestinian farmers to evacuate their lands and to remove and dismantle all that exists in those areas.
The warning notices state that this includes, but is not limited to, trees and infrastructure installations. Indeed, the notices can apply to anything on the land.
The land is being confiscated under the pretext that the area is ‘State Land’.
One local farmer, Maher Taha Mustapha Manasra, from Wadi Fuqeen, found an Israeli military order (holding number 51/05/B) issued by the Israeli Custodian of Absentee Land Property in the Israeli Army. It warned him to evacuate his land under the pretext that it is ‘State Land’.
Mr Manasra said that his 25.5 dunums piece of land is cultivated with hundreds of Olive and Almonds trees. In addition, he said he can prove his ownership of the land – he has a Turkish and British ‘Tabo’ in addition to a Palestinian-issued title deed.
Many, many other farmers have been similarly affected.
In nearby Al-Jabaa village, the local farmers found five Israeli military orders notifying them to evacuate more than 71 dunums of lands under the aforementioned pretext.
The owners of these lands also indicated that they had certificates and registration documents (Turkish and British ‘Tabo’) which prove their ownership of their lands.To read about and see more about this latest shock for the villagers and their Palestinian neighbours - and to understand the shocking scale of the latest confiscations in this area of the West Bank. This links to the site of the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem. This body monitors the scale of the Israeli colonisation.

4. European Parliament votes to lift blockade on Gaza
NEWS RELEASE From the office of Jean Lambert, London’s Green MEP, 21 February 2008

The European Parliament today voted in favour of an all-party resolution calling on the Israeli Government to lift restrictions on movement across the Israel-Gaza border.

Commenting on the result, Jean Lambert MEP, who recently returned from a fact-finding mission to Israel and Gaza, said:
“I am pleased that parliament has taken such as strong stance on this issue. As a result of the blockade the people of Gaza are facing a humanitarian crisis.
“There are insufficient drugs available in hospitals to provide basic care and in some areas food assistance only fulfils about two-thirds of daily requirements. The fishing industry, which employed about 10,000 people, is under severe stress as boats cannot stray far from the coast.
“An ecological disaster could also be imminent as the Beit Lahia sewage plant in Gaza is failing, but essential maintenance supplies cannot be obtained. Businesses cannot survive and the unemployed are having to find work with the smugglers and extremists.
“While the rocket attacks on Israel continue, the few armed militants involved threaten the peace and the future of the many, both Israeli and Palestinian. Hamas must stop the perpetrators and Israel must recognise that the current siege will not aid long-term security.”

5. How to be an Israeli journalist by Yonatan Mendel
A year ago I applied for the job of Occupied Territories correspondent at Ma’ariv, an Israeli newspaper. I speak Arabic and have taught in Palestinian schools and taken part in many joint Jewish-Palestinian projects. At my interview the boss asked how I could possibly be objective. I had spent too much time with Palestinians; I was bound to be biased in their favour. I didn’t get the job. My next interview was with Walla, Israel’s most popular website. This time I did get the job and I became Walla’s Middle East correspondent. I soon understood what Tamar Liebes, the director of the Smart Institute of Communication at the Hebrew University, meant when she said: ‘Journalists and publishers see themselves as actors within the Zionist movement, not as critical outsiders.’

Judith Norman of Jewish Voice for Peace describes Abinmah’s article in this way: “[A]activist and author Ali Abunimah discusses the potential of Palestinian non-violent resistance. The mass action that took place when people poured out of Gaza succeeded brilliantly in both focusing world attention on the crisis and embarrassing Israel and Egypt, the countries responsible for maintaining the blockade. Like so many Palestinians and Palestinian groups, Abunimah calls for repeated mass action of this sort. The primary enemy of the tactic of non-violent resistance is the Israeli government itself, which prefers to maintain before the public eye the image of the Palestinian terrorist, since this provides the appropriate pretext for its belligerent, expansionist agenda. The other great enemy is Hamas itself, which frequently seems all too willing to provide Israel with the image it wants. As the Israeli government works to thwart any impulses in Hamas towards political moderation, Abunimah encourages Palestinians to resist any such provocation.’
Full article at

7.How the EU helps Israel strangle Gaza
Those who have long wondered how Gaza remained isolated when it had a border crossing to the south with Egypt will be indebted to David Morrison’s excellent analysis. “The answer is that, thanks to the good offices of the EU, which has a role in managing the Rafah crossing under the Agreement, Israel has always had a veto on the opening of the crossing. As we will see, in practice, whenever Israel doesn’t want the crossing open, the EU doesn’t open it.” This short answer is backed up with a detailed analysis of Agreement on Movement and Access, signed more than two years ago, on 15 November 2005, by Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and the fact that under the Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing Point (APRC), a Third Party must have personnel present at the Rafah crossing before it is allowed to open. The Third Party is the EU – and the EU has always refused to man the crossing when Israel didn’t want the crossing open.

Final para:
Perfectly ordinary people, as the American psychologist said of the Abu Ghraib abusers, are capable of behaving like monsters when they receive a message from the top that it is permissible to abuse, beat, choke, burn, make people miserable and generally do anything that man’s evil genius is capable of inventing to others who are under their control. Something bad is happening to us, they are saying in the Kfir Brigade. That ‘something’ is the occupation.